The BionicOpter is a flying dragonfly-shaped robot that can perform the same complex flight maneuvers as the real insect. Designed by the German company <a href="http://www.festo.com/cms/en_corp/9458.htm">Festo</a>, which previously produced <a href="http://inhabitat.com/floating-jellyfish-robot-propels-itself-through-the-air-using-self-inversion/">a floating robot that propels itself through the air like a jellyfish</a>. The 19-inch-long robotic insect can fly in all directions, hover and glide without beating its wings.

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BionicOpter Festo

The dragonfly is the aerial stunt of the insect world. It can hover, fly backwards and glide without moving its winds.

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BionicOpter Festo

Dragonflies align their wind stroke planes to be nearly normal to the direction of the total force produced during the movements called the thrust.

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BionicOpter Festo

Festo's remote-controlled robot features four wings equipped with amplitude controllers that allow the intensity of the thrust to be regulated and enable the insect to assume almost any position in space.

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BionicOpter Festo

BionicOpter's wings are made of foil and carbon fiber and can be moved individually by small servo-motors.

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BionicOpter Festo

The robot is just 19 inches long and weights 175 grams and has a wingspan of just over 27 inches.

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BionicOpter Festo

It has 13 degrees of freedom- 9 from the movement of wings and 4 from head and tail.

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BionicOpter Festo

The whole flight mechanism is controlled by a single ARM microprocessor.